Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Pass the Syrup!

When I sold my book to Penguin, the editor made it clear there would be significant revisions. I got my first revision letter, which had several requested changes and dug right in. No biggy, I thought.

Then the second letter came. 5,000-words of doom. I'll be posting about this as time goes by, but I wanted to explain the silly title of my shiny new blog before I roll up my sleeves for real.

Within the 5,000 words of doom, there was a jewel. At the time, I didn't know my editor had a great sense of humor, so on first read, I took it seriously. Now, it is serious in its message, and she was absolutely right, but the delivery is priceless. Hilarious, actually, if you look at in in the context of the terrifying, life and manuscript-altering atom bomb in which it was nestled.

On page 4 of the letter, under Act 3, Plot point 10, wonder editor writes:

Plot Point 10 – The New Reality·Is there a way to have a scene where she gets peace about her dad? (NEW?)·Beach scene (EXISTING, but tweak ending)Basically, the 60% of your story is working pretty well—there are a few new scenes and a few things that need to be retooled, but the momentum is moving in the right direction and things are building on one another. The beginning, though, seems to be a bit muddled. You need a clear direction, and after a few chapters of it, Lenzi’s waffling has to stop. She needs to make a decision and then go with it (around plot point five). And even when she is waffling at the beginning, it needs to be purposeful, deliberate waffling that has its own little waffling arc. Once you have Lenzi making decisions, I think your plot is going to move itself forward in a much clearer way.

Look at that! A quirky little gem right in the middle of the Manifesto of Angst. My favorite part:

And even when she is waffling at the beginning, it needs to be purposeful, deliberate waffling that has its own little waffling arc.

25 comments:

Awesome! I often think the act of writing itself is deliberate waffling. Yummy, waffles! I wish I had waffles. I'm hungry. Maybe I'll get doughnuts if the check my husband just deposited clears. I have to remember to pay the bills....what?...Oh sorry, I was waffling.

Hahaha! Hi, Sarah. I'm having the blog redesigned with waffles on it. It was bad enough posting a picture of one for the post today. Soon, I'm going to have to look at yummy waffles every time I post or respond. Sigh.

I do have to say, though, that an editor who 1) bought your book; and 2) can still spot 40% to improve upon is probably a gem. I don't know much, but I'd prefer that to the editor who can't see anything wrong with it--that would scare me. :)

lol okay, now I want waffles :D My letters weren't too bad...but then again, non-fiction doesn't have all the potential problems fiction can have. I'm terrified of my first editorial letter for a novel LOL Love the new blog :)

Yeah, Michelle. I'm beginning to think the waffle thing is not such a great idea after all. My editorial experience was not the norm. I have a very hands-on editor who had some fantastic ideas to make the book more intense, so my changes were more extreme than most. Congrats on your NF book release.

Hey, Mary, it's Silence from QT! Looks like your move is going pretty...sweet. Sorry, couldn't resist!=) Thanks for giving us a glimpse into the writer-editor relationship, looking forward to more posts.